Kent Students' Union

The challenge

Do away with manual work and integrate finance with other systems

The workload at Kent Students’ Union was putting both the finance team and its software under strain. Five people handle the finances of 300 clubs and societies, process thousands of invoices and deal with a huge volume of transactions and expenses.

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“We were using Sage 50, which was becoming unfit for purpose,” says Lloyd Wilson, Director of Digital and Communications. “The system was outdated – it’s 28 years old – and we were pushing it beyond its limits. We’d hit the limit on the number of account codes we could have and the system didn’t support modern tools such as API integrations or automation.

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“Everything was done manually – and when you’re dealing with thousands upon thousands of invoices, that’s not efficient. We needed a review, not just to replace the system but to change how the whole finance team operated.”

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Lloyd led the search for a new system and spoke to other students’ unions about their experience of changing software. The union opted for a closed tender process, setting out 150 requirements covering everything from accounting functions to data security. “We wanted a cloud-based system to reduce the risk and costs of hosting servers ourselves,” he says.

The solution

iplicit streamlines complexity and allows better reporting

iplicit was appealing because it was a true-cloud system, accessible from any device with an internet connection. “From my first conversation with Paul Sparkes, who was then Commercial Director and is now Chief Product Officer, it was clear iplicit understood the unique complexities of student unions – which was not true of other providers,” says Lloyd.

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“In the demos and then through the tender process, iplicit were happy to answer any questions and always responded quickly. I couldn’t fault the team.”

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Kent Students’ Union found iplicit to be a user-friendly system which was ideal for the union’s hybrid working model. “Staff can access it anywhere, even on their phones, whereas previously they had to use a VPN and remote desktop connections, which was slow and clunky,” says Lloyd.

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The system has allowed for much more sophisticated reporting. “Sage 50 was very restrictive when it came to reporting and analysis,” Lloyd says. “We had three levels of analysis – departments, cost centres and legal entity – and that was about it. The big strength of iplicit was that its levels of analysis, or ‘dimensions’ as iplicit calls them, were unlimited, so we had a lot more flexibility in our reporting.”

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The change of software has also enabled non-finance people to use the system. “Previously, only the finance team had access to the system. iplicit allowed us to move to a model where all staff could raise their own purchase orders, for example, without us having to pay for full licences for each member of staff,” Lloyd adds.

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“We’re giving staff different access depending on what their role is, what department they’re in and what they need to see.”

The union has to handle expenses claims emanating from the more than 300 clubs and societies. iplicit suggested during the tender process that integration with the Student Expenses app could be the best way of meeting those needs.

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“The app provides the students with an intuitive experience,” says Lloyd. “They don’t need much training to use it; we’ve pulled together some video guides and they haven’t had many problems.

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“From our side,we don’t have to set up each user, because the app not only integrates with iplicit, it also integrates with our membership system so it knows who’s on the committee of each club or society.”

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iplicit has also been integrated with the membership system SUMS. “We’ve synced our accounts and codes between iplicit and SUMS to make sure everything matches,” says Lloyd. “And because SUMS deals with our membership income, we’re looking at integrating it further so that income is imported into iplicit automatically each week.”

OUTCOME

Staff time has been freed up for value-adding activity

The change to iplicit has freed up time for higher value work.  "Our aim is to minimise manual tasks where possible so the team can dedicate more time to supporting departments and improving data accuracy,” says Lloyd. “iplicit is helping us modernise our processes and shift effort into more value-adding activity.”

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Lloyd sees the union achieving even more efficiencies as its experience with iplicit continues. “Everyone at iplicit has been wonderful to work with,” he says. “And that’s not something I can say about all suppliers.”

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